6.  The applicant was born in 1944. He appears to live mainly in Växjö, Sweden, but also regularly spends time in Bulgaria, where he is politically and socially active.
7.  Local elections were organised in Bulgaria on 28 October and 4 November 2007. The applicant, who was supporting one of the candidates for mayor of Vratsa, regularly campaigned in his support in the city’s centre.
8.  On 23 October 2007 he entered into a conflict with police officers, for reasons which are unclear. The officers issued a report for an administrative offence and a warning order enjoining the applicant to refrain from “performing indecent and inappropriate actions breaching the prevailing norms of morals and behaviour on the streets, squares and other public areas, addressing indecent words to representatives of the public authorities, and breaching public order and quietness”.
9.  On 1 November 2007 the applicant was once again campaigning in the central square of Vratsa. He had chained himself to a metal column and was using a loudspeaker, saying that the officials currently in power in Vratsa were corrupt and that he had informed the prosecution authorities of their alleged crimes. In particular, he used the following expressions: “All of them are criminals” (“Всички са престъпници”), “The prosecutor is a Mafioso” (“Прокурорът е мафиот”), “The mayor is a Mafioso” (“Кметът е мафиот”), “Political prostitutes” (“Политически проститутки”) and “A mass of political prostitutes” (“Политическа проститутска маса”).
10.  The applicant was once again approached by police officers who invited him to remove the chain and accompany them. After he refused to do so, they cut the chain and drew up a report of an act of minor hooliganism. They noted in the document that the applicant had been “disturbing public order in the area, by uttering indecent words through a loudspeaker” and had “provoked the indignation of citizens who live in the area or were passing by”. The applicant signed the act, objecting in writing that he had not done anything wrong.
11.  The officers arrested the applicant and brought him to the Vratsa District Court, where he was charged with an offence of minor hooliganism under the 1963 Decree on Combating Minor Hooliganism (“the Decree”, see paragraphs 18-20 below).
12.  The Vratsa District Court held a hearing on the same day. The applicant had a lawyer.
13.  The court heard several witnesses called by the police, including the officers who had arrested the applicant, who stated that they had felt indignation upon hearing the applicant’s words and had heard other people on the square say that these words had been inappropriate. The court heard also two witnesses called by the applicant, who considered that he had expressed a political message and that the people on the square had not been reacting in a negative manner.
14.  The applicant’s lawyer stated that the applicant had been expressing his civic position, that he was a “rebel”, that he had not breached the Decree and that he had a constitutional right to express his opinion.
15.  The Vratsa District Court delivered its judgment after the hearing. On the basis of the witness statements it established that the applicant had uttered the expressions described above and “other expressions addressed at the head of the Vratsa police directorate, the prosecution authorities and the police, as a whole”. These amounted to “indecent statements, made in a public place in front of many people” and to “offensive attitude towards public bodies” within the meaning of section 1 of the Decree. Therefore, the applicant was found guilty of minor hooliganism. Considering as an aggravating circumstance the fact that the expressions above had been uttered “deliberately, publicly, with a loudspeaker, in breach of public order in the centre of Vratsa, despite an earlier warning not to demonstrate in such a manner”, the Vratsa District Court sentenced the applicant to ten days’ detention.
16.  The judgment was final and enforced immediately. The applicant remained detained in the police station in Vratsa until 11 November 2007.